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While it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact date that the guitar made its celluloid debut, it’s likely that the instrument was first captured in a motion picture sometime in the mid-1890s, when Edison Laboratories began filming music hall performances with its newly invented Kinetograph.
It’s equally likely that, even in its earliest movie appearances, the guitar was used as a comedic prop. There’s always been something about the guitar that, in the right hands—or even better, the wrong ones—can add extreme levity to any situation.
Even in the absence of sound, a guitar can represent absurdity, pomposity, pathos, silliness, and a host of other emotions, attitudes, and attributes that play well with comic scenarios. And, of course, a guitar makes a brilliant slapstick device, especially when smashed with theatrical flourish against the nearest wall, floor, or cranium.
The guitar-as-comedic-device is a grand tradition that continues on to this day in both film and television, with the guitar’s four-string bass cousin occasionally getting into the act as well. Over the years, the guitar has appeared with such comedic giants as Groucho Marx, John Belushi, and Cheech & Chong, and been a vehicle of rock and roll fantasy for everyone from Herman Munster to Tenacious D.
Picking the funniest guitar-related scenes from more than a century of clips was no mean feat, but we’ve managed to come up with a list that should tickle your funny bone even as it inspires you to pick up the nearest guitar. But just remember: if you decide to smash it on something (or someone) for a laugh, we cannot be held responsible for any damages.
Film:Wayne’s World (1992)
Scene: No Stairway
Mike Myers utilizes a most shredular “May I help you?” riff to